Tips for getting babies to drink water

[rainbowheart]

My 8 month old has really bad constipation.. to the point of screaming and straining to do a tiny bit of poo upto 10 times a day.

He's been given lactulose.. but I have to wait 48hrs for it to work!

I need to up his water intake but he will not drink and I've tried everything!

He won't drink water from his bottle, tumbler, cup.

I've tried fresh juices, cordial, weaker/stronger but he won't take any of it!

How can I get him to drink more??

If baby is breastfed, just make sure you're well hydrated and keep offering the breast: there's some kind of hormonal feedback process where your body "knows" baby needs more water,so breast milk will be more dilute.

If you formula feed, its easy to make the feeds a bit more dilute. I know the health professionals generally advise against it, but assuming there are no growth issues, it's not going to do any harm, particularly in this heatwave.